Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

"Always," Jerry called, "How many you need?"

"Just one!" A knife thunked into a tree next above Lyak's head, just barely out of reach for her even if she jumped.

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"Yeah, I get it," Veo nodded as he put the neck strap of the top half of her apron over Fia, "But we're going to have to go back up to the camp later." She smiled at the phoenix, "At least keep this on, okay?" Veo's apron fit rather loosely, Veo' torso and especially her chest was much larger than Fia's, but the apron was large enough to be fastened around without obstructing Fia's wings.

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina looked at the knife before walking over to retrieve it for Lyak.

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Fia looked down at the apron. "Is it alright if this gets wet?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Thank you," Lyak smiled at Erina and then clambered on top of a rock to start whittling down the stick into something that could be used as a button.

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"I get it covered in a lot worse things than water," Veo smiled and patted Fia's back, "We've got a washing barrel."

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina gave her a nod before heading to her loom again.

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Fia smiled back at her. "Alright." She turned to the water again. Shuffle waiting in the water at the edge of the pool, while Raine was floating on her back with her eyes closed.

 

[Darkling0096]

By the time everyone's time-stones told them afternoon was rolling around, most of the group had finished what they were doing. Lyak had started to teach Erina about buttons for fastening clothing, including how to make a couple types and how to fasten them. Jerry had successfully extracted some sulfur and was taking a break for an hour or two before she would start trying to make that black powder for an explosive. Shuffle, Fia, and Raine had exhausted themselves in their swim, and Veo in bringing them back up, so they were taking a nap while the washing barrel cleaned and dried their clothes.

Emfa, as was her usual behavior, had amassed a pile of wood from the corpses of many trees to burn. Joanne had her armor stored safely on her cart, but still wore her sword as she walked around finding things to do. Nalla was napping herself in one of the tents, the abilities of a shaman not particularly needed in this area.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia had only grown more by the time she was brought back to camp. She looked properly teenage now. Erina was happily learning new techniques from Lyak, but she was about ready to take a break and rest her hands. Niudisa had finished her current work and was mostly just reviewing her notes. Corona spent most of her time since they stopped just standing around, occasionally moving to stand somewhere else. She was still wearing her armor as well.

 

[Darkling0096]

When Fia returned, she got a lot of looks of confusion. She could look forward to being interrogated once she'd woke up.

"If not for the monsters," Jerry yawned, "I could settle down here." This was a nice place, very comfortable with plenty of space for needs to be attended to.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta gave a nod, sitting nearby. “Yes, it is very nice. You could almost forget what we’ve gone through to get here. ...almost.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah," Jerry stretched and leaned back against Asta's side, "Too bad, really. If I didn't want to get out of here so bad I'd probably put roots down."

"And become the next Urodor?", Adran raised an eyebrow.

"I heard that, asshole!", Urodor barked, still in his cage.

"He got a mouth on him once you made him tiny," Adran chuckled, shaking his head, "Where do you think he got it?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa glanced over. "Wasn't it Jerry's blood that let him speak?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah," Jerry nodded. "I cut the organ that let him assimilate traits from blood, though." That probably did explain where Urodor's potty mouth had come from, though. Jerry wasn't exactly known for clean language.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Mm. Oh, speaking of blood." Niudisa stood up and turned to them. "Mimics bleed, right?"

Poli spoke up. "I don't like where this is going..."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yeah..." Jerry looked confused as she sat up. "Why?"

"I doubt you will find much use in the blood of a mimic," Joanne shook her head.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Maybe not, but Shuffle might. Though could also turn her into a puddle. There’s a risk, but the possible reward might be worth it.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Oh," Jerry shook her head, "We've been there already, it didn't do anything. We figured it's because Poli's blood isnt blood like ours.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Mm. Alright then.” Niudisa didn’t seem wholly convinced, but she dropped the matter for the time. She glanced over as Corona was passing by, relocating once again. “Hm... Hey, I got some questions for you.” She fluttered over as the centaur stopped to look at her.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry got up and brushed herself off after a bit, and taking a seat at Niudisa's alchemy table to start mixing the black powder while the fairy was interrogating Corona. Sulfur extracted from those rocks, charcoal from the fire, and saltpeter extracted from the source she had not explained. With Jerry elsewhere, Beri returned to keeping watch on the phoenix,sitting still as a statue and barely blinking at the bird. Whatever power in the water that had made the phoenixes grow so quickly must have also permeated the air in steam from the pools, as the bird was somewhat larger than he had been that morning.

"You know," Emfa said, "We had the dwarf make our packs so we could survive if we split up, but the only time we did was in the fog, and we found each other within an hour."

"Don't jinx us," Adran warned, "It's like a cure disease potion, it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!"

 

[Fangs9090]

When the centaur didn't reply, Niudisa continued. "First is that shield of yours. No normal shield can knock back a fireball like that. But I don't feel a specific enchantment from it either."

Corona looked at her buckler. "This is a gift from Misery. When I block something with it, has a chance to send it back twice as strong. I don't control when it happens though."

 

[Darkling0096]

"The weapons of the gods do not follow our rules," Joanne shook her head, "Few of the gods creations do. There is likely more to those weapons than you can comprehend. There is no point in trying."

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona nodded. "I don't try to understand my goddess. Anyone who does is a fool."

Niudisa crossed her arms. "I'm guessing the spear is another gift? None of those runes are complete, but I saw you cast with it."

"Yes, I call upon my goddess to fill in the runes as she sees fit, allowing me to cast the spell she chooses. Again, I don't know what will cast."

 

[Darkling0096]

Now that gave Joanne pause. Not trying to understand the being you serve, and effectively using wild magic? "What goddess do you serve, exactly?

 

[Fangs9090]

Corona looked over at her. "I serve Misery, Goddess of Chaos."

 

[Darkling0096]

She served Chaos? "I..." Joanne wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Sure, there were good and evil gods. She understood how to deal with those, but Chaos? "Has she pressed you into service or did you seek her out?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Neither. She found me and I chose to serve. I had been born into a family or royal knights, which is how I got my training, but the life of a knight was boring to me, so I left and became a mercenary. That was boring too, but then Misery found me." Corona smiled. "Serving her, I never know what will happen. It's exciting."

 

[Darkling0096]

Joanne didn't know if she should take that as an affront to her order or to her own call to serve. Her lower eyelid twitched, and then she turned on her heels and stiffly walked away.

"I think you broke her," Adran raised an eyebrow.